21Sep2015. My friend Alistair requested that I put a little extra commentary over this event. I really don't have much to say about it.
For a casual reader, you should be aware that I grew up in Malaysia, spoke English at home, attended a Chinese primary school, passed my SPM BM with a C6, and have been working in Kuala Lumpur since 2005. I was born in the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital in 1983, and spent most of my youth futzing around Sentul and Jalan Ipoh neighbourhoods. I am perhaps, a political cynic - I stopped reading the (local political news)papers in 1998 because it seemed like vaudeville. I am a registered voter - I made a point to register - and I have never voted - I made a point to not vote for any party that wasn't convincing. I've held the view for the last 17 or so years, that it would take 20-30 years from that time to get Malaysia into the territory of "modern democracy." It may or may not happen, but I never thought that I should be particularly active in Malaysian politics unless I made a lot of money, and had the clout to go fist to head with the big boys - my view is that political success in Malaysia depends on the size of your ammo box, and the ammunition required is money - that is just how the system was set up prior to my ability to get involved - and it was a well-set-up system (saying nothing about its ethical value).
In any event, the videos below sum up my approach to this whole excitable mess of coloured t-shirts that has erupted across the mainstream media, in recent years. In summary, you may view just the first and final videos - everything in the middle was just evidence that one can walk around in a yellow t-shirt and not get bothered by the majority of people at a rally of the sort that was organised on 16Sep2015. Stick questions in the comments, and I'll banter with you - if you want.
I had a bit of down-time, on the night of 15 September, so I cooked up a little plan to entertain myself.
I parked at the Sentul Timur station, and got on a train.
I wanted to get off at the PWTC station, but was too busy fiddling with my phone, so I skipped it. I got off the train at the Plaza Rakyat LRT station, because it was quite obvious that the view was a good one.
I walked along Jalan Kuching, with the gang.
I started taking photos of other people in yellow shirts.
Then I walked over to Padang Merbok, and ran into my friend Shannon on the way over. He was wearing a Ghostbusters t-shirt, which has every colour in the Malaysian flag except... yellow.
There were a number of people in Guy Fawkes masks, no thanks to Vendetta of course, so I made sure to photograph at least one of them.
I walked along Jalan Parlimen towards the loudspeakers, until I realised I had passed the stage, so then I walked back to the stage, approaching from the back. This was from stage left.
The speaker was having a good time.
Shortly after I arrived, it was over.
These were all the people I saw in yellow t-shirts - who knows if they knew what they were wearing. Who cares.
Then I walked to Masjid Jamek, and took a train back to my car.
I headed to the nearest cafe, uploaded the videos that were still on my phone, and reached a conclusion about how I felt.
Then I went back to my construction site to build some prototype benches.
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